take, and wisely and graciously acknowledged it by returning Messrs. Slidell and Mason. In that point of view they did according to Mr. Tuckerman's expression-eat a little "humble pie.' J. W. G.

OLDEST CHURCH EDIFICE [xv. 615] Hingham, Massachusetts, has a meetinghouse still in use, which was first occupied January 8, 1682. This is the oldest in New England, certainly, and it has been. said to be the oldest in the United States. A local name for it is "The Old Ship." Nason gives a cut of it in his Gazetteer of Massachusetts, p. 261. G.

DUDE [xv. 615]-The following explanation of this word shows that it is not of recent origin. We quote the following letter from the New York Evening Post: B.

"SIR: Will it not surprise you and your readers to learn, as it did me to discover, that ancient Rome in the days of Terence had its 'dudes,' and called them even by the same name? In the 'Eunuchus' of Terence, act iv., scene iv., 1. 15, it is written :

'Ita visus est

Dudum quia varia veste exornatus fuit,' which literally translated into English would read, 'He seemed a dude, because he was decked out in parti-colored clothes,' or still more literally 'in a vest of many colors.'

"The fact that he was called Dudum rather than Dudus (masculine) implies much as to his general public estimation even in that early age. I can find no mention of him in Juvenal, where we might expect to find him above all other

places. Perhaps Juvenal himself was a dude; Rome was full of them then." NICHOLAS E. CROSBY

116 EAST NINETEENTH STREET

THE BATTLE OF CROSS KEYS-Editor Magazine of American History: In the interesting and well-written article on

Cross Keys [xv. 483] in your May issue, there are one or two errors. On page 489: The forces of Fremont and Ewell at Cross Keys were not "about the same." Ewell's line was formed with Trimble on the right and Stewart on the left. Elzey's brigade was in reserve in rear of the center. Ewell had in these commands less than 5,000 men. Subsequently Patton's brigade (800 men) and Taylor's (possibly 2,500 men) were sent to reinforce him; but Taylor did not become engaged. Fremont reports his force (which had been over 14,000 on May 31) as reduced to 10,500. Bayard's cavalry, which was then with him, made it over 11,000. On page 490 Trimble is spoken of as having been reinforced "from Taylor's brigade and by two regiments from Elzey's." Elzey's regiments were all that joined Trimble before the contest was over. So again, page 491, "part of Taylor's brigade" is said to have been "almost annihilated" by Dilger's battery. The "part of Taylor's brigade" which was sent to Trimble's assistance was not engaged at all and lost not a single man. Two of Taylor's regiments were sent to the other wingConfederate left-to oppose Schenck's movements. They were not engaged either, but being exposed to the fire of the Federal artillery, lost two men killed and fifteen wounded. W. ALLAN MCDONOUGH, MD., May 30, 1886.

the American Revolution, and recommending that the same be undertaken by the Government of the United States, was adopted. The following list of officers were chosen for the coming year: President, Charles H. Bell; Vice-Presidents, J. E. Sargent and John M. Shirley; Recording Secretary, Amos Hadley; Corresponding Secretary, John J. Bell; Treasurer, William P. Fiske; Librarian, Samuel C. Eastman; Necrologist, Irvine A. Watson; Library Committee, Amos Hadley, Edward H. Spalding, J. E. Pecker; Standing Committee, Joseph B. Walker, Sylvester Dana, J. C. A. Hill.

The annual address was delivered by Hon. Amos Hadley, upon the subject of "New Hampshire in the historical Van and Brunt," and was a very able and scholarly production. It was voted to hold the annual field day of the Society at Charlestown "No. 4," at such time as the President should fix.

CONNECTICUT HISTORICAL SOCIETYThe annual meeting of this Society was held in Hartford, May 24, and was largely attended. The report of the Secretary showed that there had been nine regular meetings during the year with an average attendance of ten members. Nine resident and two corresponding members have been elected, and there have been two deaths. The accessions have been ninety-seven bound volumes, twenty-eight manuscripts, and four hundred and twenty-six pamphlets. The use of the library has been double that of last year and the interest in the Society's meetings shows a marked increase. Officers were elected as follows:

President, Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull; Vice-presidents, the Hon. Henry Barnard, for Hartford County; Professor Franklin B. Dexter, of Yale College, for New Haven County; Judge J. C. Mather, of New London, for New London County; Colonel L. N. Middlebrook, of Bridgeport, for Fairfield County; the Hon. J. W. Stedman, for Windham County; the Hon. Robbins Battell, of Norfolk, for Litchfield County; Judge James Phelps, of Essex, for Middlesex County, and Judge Dwight Loomis, of Rockville, for Tolland County. Treasurer, J. F. Morris; Recording Secretary, Frank B. Gay; Corresponding Secretary, Chas. J. Hoadly; Committee on Membership, Charles J. Hoadly, Sherman W. Adams, F. F. Starr, Rowland Swift, J. F. Morris, Stephen Terry, J. H. Trumbull; Committee on Library, Charles J. Hoadly, J. H. Trumbull, Samuel Hart; Committee on Publications, the Rev. Dr. George, Leon Walker, the Hon. J. W. Stedman, Charles Hopkins Clark. Mr. F. B. Gay was reelected Librarian. It was voted to have the next regular meeting on the first Tuesday of October.

THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, SCIENTIFIC AND HISTORICAL-The Linnæan Society met in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on Saturday afternoon, May 1st, at three o'clock, and in the absence of the President Professor J. S. Stahr occupied the chair.

The donations to the museum consisted of twenty-four specimens of minerals from Hancock County, Illinois, and from the Lake Superior region, donated by Miss A. C. Rathvon. Specimen of cryolite, from Greenland, donated by

C. A. Heinitsh; twenty-three specimens of minerals from Lancaster County, donated by Dr. S. S. Rathvon, also a specimen (31 x 46 inches) of vegetable cloth or felt used as a dress material by the natives of the South Pacific Islands; specimen of the American porcupine, donated by Mr. F. E. Ball, and mounted at the expense of the Society, also specimen of the Virginia Rail, purchased by the Society; six specimens of plants, one of them the very rare Ram's Head Cypripedium, donated by Mrs. S. P. Eby. Mrs. Zell exhibited specimens of old linen cloth, manufactured in Lancaster over a hundred years ago. Professor J. S. Stahr exhibited three specimens of Peach Bottom roofing slate, containing plant impressions. This is the first reported find of fossil plants in this State.

The donations to the historical section consisted of thirty-three different newspapers, ranging in date from 1849 to 1871; complete file of the Dollar Newspaper for 1848, from Dr. S. S. Rathvon. To the library were added numerous pamphlets and current numbers of weekly, daily, and monthly publications, also a copy of the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, and annual reports of the University of California and Buffalo Historical Society.

Dr. S. S. Rathvon read a paper on the donations to the museum. Professor J. S. Stahr read a paper on specimens of a double Thaliotrum Anemenoides, exhibited by him, and also on the plant impressions in the Peach Bottom roofing slate exhibited by him. D. H. Landis, of Millersville, was elected an associate member. W. J. Hoffman, M. D., of Washington, D. C., a corresponding member of the Linnæan, proposed as a

corresponding member of the same, Comm. Pietro Bernabo Silorata, President of the Royal Society of Learning. Rome, Italy, who was elected.

BERKSHIRE COUNTY HISTORICAL AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY-The ninth annual meeting of the Berkshire County Historical and Scientific Society was held at the Athenæum, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, May 6th. After listening to the annual report of the Secretary on the financial condition of the Society, the election of officers was held. Professor Perry, of Williams College, was unanimously chosen President, which position he has so ably filled for the last three years who reviewed the work of the last nine years, expressing himself much encouraged in view of the ground covered, and the exceeding value of the papers read before the Society. An invitation was extended, and accepted from Levi Beebec, for the Society to hold its field meeting at his home on Mount Washington. The paper of the day was by Judge L. E. Munson, of New Haven, a native of Great Barrington, on "Montana as it was and is." He carried his listeners with him to the "land of mountains" with its immense area, its skies as blue as Italy, and its falls and cañons surpassing Switzerland in grandeur. As one of the commissioners to review the treaties with the Indian tribes in 1865, and also one of the three first territorial judges, he had ample opportunity of knowing Montana in its infancy, and his account of the vigilantes and the enforcement of home rule in those first trying days, when the Territory was in its swaddling bands, was graphic in the extreme.